Records of Concordia Company

Manuscripts Collection 350

Overview of the Collection

Repository:

G.W. Blunt White Library, Mystic Seaport

Creator:

Concordia Company

Title:

Records of Concordia Company

Dates:

1938-2001 (bulk 1938-1988)

Extent:

14,255 items

Abstract:

Records, 1938-2001, of Concordia Company. Includes records for twenty-three 17′ sloops, ninety-eight yawls, and twenty-eight other boats. The collection also includes business correspondence, bills of sale, building contracts, notes, IOR ratings, and other miscellaneous records. These records complement items in the Daniel S. Gregory Ships Plans Library (SP Coll. 130) and the general collection.

Identification:

Coll. 350

Accesssion number:

MC 2008.45

History of Concordia Company

“Llewellyn Howland established Concordia Company, Inc. in 1926. He named the company after a famous Howland family whaling vessel. In 1932 Llewellyn transferred the company to his son Waldo, and Marblehead racing celebrity, C. Raymond Hunt. They redrew the terms of the corporation to more closely fit with the boat business they had created and operated the company as a successful boat brokerage through the 1930’s.

Concordia Company began designing boats to maximize Ray’s talents. Its first design, a 12-foot Frostbite dinghy, PLOVER, was built by Pat O’Connell, a former George Lawley %amp; Son Corporation employee. The company continued building frostbiters and other small boats until 1936, when it received its first commission for a larger boat – the 28-foot WEEPECKET. Commissions for larger boats continued and Concordia’s name began to be associated with fine quality workmanship and well-designed craft.

In 1938 the company moved from Boston to Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and added Wilder B. Harris to its staff as a naval architect. But the year also brought a devastating blow to the company in the form of the Great Hurricane of 1938, which ruined many of the boats moored in Padanaram Harbor. Among those destroyed was the Howland family’s own ESCAPE, a Norwegian pilot boat designed by Colin Archer and built in 1890.

Llewellyn hired Concordia Company to design and build a boat to replace this loss. He wanted a daysailer that could race and cruise in the choppy seas and heavy afternoon breezes of Buzzards Bay. What started as design number fourteen, just another Concordia boat, became the classic Concordia yawl, one of the most successful and long-lived stock racer/cruisers ever built. When the name Concordia is mentioned, it is the yawl, with her distinctive star and moon covestripe, that comes to mind.

Concordia Company commissioned 103 Concordia yawls between 1938 and 1966. The German shipyard, Abeking and Rasmussen, constructed all but four of the yawls. Oyster Bay yachtsman Drayton Cochran commissioned the first Abeking and Rasmussen-built Concordia yawl, beginning the unique relationship that would develop between the two companies. At the time they were building Concordias, Abeking and Rasmussen were primarily involved in building commercial vessels. The company was able to produce the yawl at a very reasonable price, leaving many of the final details to the Concordia yard to complete. The yawls were built out of a relationship of trust and good will – Abeking and Rasmussen actually shipped complete boats to Concordia before receiving final payment.

By the 1960’s, economic forces rendered it impossible to continue producing the yawls in Germany. IRENE, hull #103, was the last Concordia to be shipped from Lemwerder in 1966. Waldo sold the company to Bill Pinney in 1969. Bill owned the company until 1981, helping to solidify the good reputation the company had built. During this time, Concordia continued to build the Beetle Cat sailboat, and began developing its facilities to accommodate the ever-increasing need for boatyard services on quality fiberglass yachts. Brodie MacGregor purchased Concordia Company in 1981 and they continue to operate today.” (www.concordiaboats.com/history)

Scope and Contents of the Papers

This collection was largely organized by Concordia Company. The orignal order was kept as much as possible and the only items that were moved were either not dated or relocated in order to group all files on individual boats together. The Records of Concordia Company are arranged by series as described below.

Restrictions

Index Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the G. W. Blunt White Library. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.